The present technology relates to a fluid container device containing fluid therein, and an image forming apparatus including the fluid container device.
In recent years, a toner supply method for image forming apparatus which includes replacing an empty toner supply container with a fresh one has been mainstream in place of a toner supply method including supplying a toner hopper with toner from a toner supply container, in view of advantages including a low possibility of operator's hands being stained and a like advantage. Such a toner supply container, however, involves a problem that toner particles agglomerate and become solid by their own weights to prevent smooth toner supply into an image forming apparatus. One known toner supply container has an arrangement provided with an agitation blade inside the container. Such a toner supply container has a problem of a higher cost.
To overcome this problem, another known toner supply container is capable of containing toner without causing agglomeration of toner particles by a relatively simple structure (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-271995 for example).
The toner supply container disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-271995 has a bottomed tubular shape and is configured to rotate within an image forming apparatus so as to feed toner by means of a spiral ridge formed on an internal surface of the toner supply container, thereby supplying an image forming apparatus body with toner. This toner supply container is capable of preventing agglomeration of toner particles and supplying toner smoothly by a low-cost structure.
The toner supply container can be rotated by application of a driving force from one end thereof. Therefore, the use of the toner supply container makes it possible to eliminate the need to provide a complicated driving mechanism, thereby offering an excellent space efficiency.
The toner supply container disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-271995, however, has a problem that toner adheres to the internal wall of the toner supply container and remains within the container without being discharged. Particularly where small-particle toner having a high cohesive force is used, a further increase occurs in the amount of residual toner that remains as adhering to the internal wall without being discharged.
Though the toner supply container is exemplified here, a similar problem sometimes arises with fluids other than toner.
It is an object of the present technology to provide a fluid container device which is capable of preventing fluid from adhering to an internal wall of a fluid containing portion, thereby reducing the amount of residual fluid that remains within the fluid container device without being discharged therefrom.